Although the largest share of Pennsylvania registered voters, 50 percent, don't yet have an
opinion of Gov. Tom Corbett's job performance, the new governor gets a 39 - 11 percent
approval rating from those who do have an opinion, according to a Quinnipiac University poll
released today.

But by a 53 - 33 percent margin, voters don't believe Gov. Corbett can keep his promise
to balance the budget without raising taxes, similar to a 55 - 31 percent finding in a December
survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.

Voters agree overwhelmingly, 69 - 26 percent, with former Gov. Ed Rendell that the
Commonwealth is better off that gambling addicts spend their money in Pennsylvania rather than
elsewhere. By a narrow 51 - 46 percent margin, voters support increasing legalized gambling in
the state to help meet the budget deficit.

"Gov. Corbett is off to a good start. Although half the electorate doesn't have an opinion
of him, among those who have an opinion more than three times as many approve of what he has
done so far than who disapprove," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac
University Polling Institute. "His challenge will be to keep that ratio of support as he gets more
detailed about how he'll deal with the state government's shortfall when he releases his budget
next month."

Not surprisingly, Corbett's strongest support is among Republicans who approve of his
performance 57 - 4 percent, while independent voters approve 40 - 13 percent. Although 57
percent of Democrats don't have an opinion about him, he has a 27 - 16 percent approval rating
among those who do. Corbett has a small gender gap as men approve 41 - 11 percent while
women approve 37 - 12 percent.

Corbett does not need to convince voters that the state's budget problems are real: 61
percent say the state's budget woes are "very serious," while 34 percent say "somewhat serious,"
an unusually large percentage.

"You probably can't get 95 percent of people to agree that motherhood and apple pie are
good things," said Brown.

But when it gets to potential solutions, voters are much less supportive. The one idea they
strongly favor is selling state liquor stores, an idea they support 65 - 26 percent. But they oppose
or are divided on other budget-cutting ideas under discussion in Harrisburg:

"Pennsylvania voters may agree on the severity of the problem, but there is nowhere near
that kind of agreement about the solutions," said Brown. "They like the idea of selling the liquor
stores the most and raising taxes the least."

The narrow 51 - 46 percent voter support for increasing legalized gambling as a way to
reduce the red ink reflects a strong majority, 64 - 29 percent, who call gambling a "good thing."

"While voters say 54 - 39 percent that legalized slot machine gambling in Pennsylvania is
creating new gamblers, they agree with Gov. Ed Rendell, who defended the expansion of legal
gambling on his watch, that gambling addicts might as well lose their money in the
Commonwealth," Brown said.

Voters are optimistic, 65 - 23 percent, including 51 - 32 percent among Democrats, of
the next four years with the Republican as governor.

A total of 47 percent of Pennsylvania voters are "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied"
with the way things are going in the state, up from a 37 percent "satisfaction" December 15.

From February 8 - 14, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,366 registered voters with a
margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and the
nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or
follow us on Twitter.

1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Tom Corbett is handling his job as
Governor?

TREND: In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in
Pennsylvania today? Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat
dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied? (*Low also 39% Sep 2009)

TREND: Governor Tom Corbett has pledged that in trying to balance the state's
budget deficit that he will not raise taxes or fees. Do you think Tom Corbett
should have made this pledge or not? (*Governor-elect Tom Corbett)

Feb 16 Dec 15
2011 2010*
Yes 49 47
No 43 44
DK/NA 8 9

23. Do you think Tom Corbett will be able to keep his campaign pledge or not?

27. Ex-governor Ed Rendell said on the TV news show 60 minutes that it's better
for Pennsylvania that gambling addicts spend their money in Pennsylvania than
take it to other states. Do you agree or disagree?